Nov 18 2009
Last night I caught a report that by the timeline on the site seemed to be just breaking, today it may Break Wide Open and not be a pleasure for the Canadians nor any of the Military Forces, U.S. included, now occupying Afghanistan!
This was what I posted up last night:
Nov 18 2009
This was caught a short while ago:
Number of Army Suicides Expected to Top Last Year’s Number
The U.S. Army says it expects the number of suicides among active duty soldiers to top last year’s numbers, although it says progress is being made in addressing the issue…>>>>
They just made a quick comment at the end of the PBS News Hour, saying “The pace was slowing.” the Army’s response to the higher numbers of suicides!
Nov 17 2009
The U.S. has blocked the release of photos showing clear evidence that the United States is responsible for torture in Iraq and Afghanistan. We think someone with access to the photos should simply leak them on the web, saving tax payers a load of cash and letting people know just what it is our twin occupations are really about. We are calling on anyone who has access to the images to leak them and anyone else to copy this message and post it in order to increase the chance of it reaching anyone who might have access.
Secretary of Defense Robert Gates won’t allow new photographs showing prisoners in Afghanistan and Iraq being abused by Americans military personnel. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has taken the issue to court, and is suing for the release of 21 color photos under the Freedom of Information Act. Ultimately, this lawsuit will win, but why waste the taxpayer dollars to hide from tax payers what they’re funding in Afghanistan and Iraq?
Federal courts already rejected the White House arguments that the photos must be kept from public view. In respponse to this, Congress – which is largely populated by people who supported both invasions, knowingly swallowing vast doses of false information as if it were fact – gave Gates new power to keep them private.
We know the U.S. military and its many contractors are involved in torture and humiliation of detainees, actions in violation of both U.S. and international law. Evidence has been published in the past and it was shrugged off under the “few bad apples” plea. We know this isn’t the case and these new photos are yet still more tangible proof of that.
If you have access to these photos, release them. If you don’t have access to these photos, please cut and paste this call anywhere you can and let’s create a viral plea to someone with the power to be a whistle blower. Don’t wait for the courts.
Nov 13 2009
If history judges correctly, one of the Best of the Military Leaders of these past, failed policies of civilian and military leaders, to present times one name will stand out above all the others as a true Understanding Leader and that will be one General Eric Shinseki. Those of us in the present already know much about what this military leader was put through and by whom, but he has been brought back to lead again, lead in the way he seems to have also done, with compassion and understanding for those he has been placed in command of, throughout his military careerer and his life.
Nov 13 2009
Join WWL Radio cohosts Diane Gee and Michael Gottlieb tonight on BTR at 6PM Eastern Time.
Tonight we again have the honor of interviewing Cmdr Jeff Huber contributor at Antiwar.com and Aviation Week’ proprietor of Pen and Sword and author of Bathtub Admirals to help us un~weave the tangled web of our Afghanistan Policy.
Seymour Hersh echoed Cmdr Jeff’s essay on WWL this week, “Hillary’s Dope Deal” in his interview on NPR’s Fresh Air, that there are certainly back-dealings, side dealings and intrigue afoot behind the overt McChrystal and his West Point Boy’s propaganda and the media dumps coming from the White House.
So, pour yourself your favorite recreational beverage, sit back and enjoy your happy hour in brilliant, entertaining company, (and yes, that implies you as well). It will be an amazing evening.
See you there! As always, respectful questions and commentary are welcomed. Call in, or use our attached live chat function!
Join Gottlieb and Diane tonight at 6pm EDT on Wild Wild Left Radio, via BlogtalkRadio, for an interesting hour of Political Reporting and Commentary.
WWL Radio: Free Speech in Practice.
The call in number is 646-929-1264
The live chat link will go live around 5:15.
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Nov 12 2009
On the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, 11.11.09, I caught a couple of important discussions in the continuing known by us veterans are the results of wars and occupations of choice, or any war and occupation, as to the veterans and military personal once they’ve been sent to serve in and then return home, most being discharged from their service obligation after serving the time they signed up for, all at that point or later becoming the veterans of their service.
This first one is just a news report I happened upon but hits on the issue many of us are long time advocates of and adds to the rest posted below it.
Nov 10 2009
Crossposted from Antemedius
The Guardian’s Sean Smith spent a month embedded with the US Army’s 501st Parachute Regiment in June this year, and reports now that with inadequate vehicles, relations with Afghan security forces at a standstill and the constant threat of IEDs, US Troops in the country are losing heart for a fight they feel their presence is only prolonging, while many Afghanis say that the presence of the troops is causing problems for them because that is what is attracting the Taliban.
Nov 10 2009
Original article, an interview with Malalai Joya via socialistworker.org:
Nov 09 2009
By Jeff Leys
Co-Coordinator, Voices for Creative Nonviolence
This past Wednesday, Admiral Mullen (Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff) announced that the Pentagon will seek additional war funds for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars in 2010. While he did not give a firm dollar amount, the New York Times reported that defense budget analysts are kicking around the number of $50 billion. The Times also
reported that Jack Murtha, Chair of the Defense Subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee, indicated on October 30 that he expects the supplemental spending bill for 2010 to be in the range of $40 billion. The final dollar amount won’t be known until the White House submits its “emergency” supplemental spending request to Congress, most likely around February 2.
In the immortal words of Coach Vince Lombardi: “What the hell is going on out there?”
We should be so lucky if it were a simple matter of the Green Bay Packers screwing up the power sweep.
Instead, it’s a matter of the Obama Administration now leading us down the path of the most expensive year in war funding since President Bush began the so-called “Global War on Terror” (now morphed into the “Overseas Contingency Operations” under President Obama).
Nov 09 2009
The Soviet war in Afghanistan, also known as the Soviet-Afghan War, was a nine-year conflict involving Soviet forces supporting the Marxist People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) government against the Mujahideen resistance.
In 1989, ten years after a little more time, a lot more money, and a lot more lives lost, the USSR finally was forced to give up it’s dreams of domination of Afghanistan and withdrew… and collapsed.
Mikhail Gorbachev had a few words of caution for Barack Obama in the wake of indications that Obama is planning another escalation of 20-35,000 troops to Afghanistan
The former president of the Soviet Union spoke to CNN’s John King Sunday on State Of The Union and after talking about the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, Gorbachev suggested that the US revisit the Kremlin’s efforts to control Afghanistan as the US plans its next move.
“I think that what’s needed is not additional forces,” said Gorbachev. “This is something that we discussed, too, years ago, and we decided not to do it. And I think our experience deserves attention.” McClatchy has reported that President Obama is leaning toward sending as many as 34,000 more US troops to Afghanistan. The Soviet Union fought for nine years in Afghanistan in a war to support Afghanistan’s then-communist government. The USSR ultimately lost the war and 13,000 of its soldiers died.
Gorbachev concluded that for the US, “withdrawal from Afghanistan should be the goal.”
Nov 09 2009
Original article, by Patrick Martin, via World Socialist Web Site:
According to US press reports Sunday, President Barack Obama has decided to send tens of thousands of additional US troops to Afghanistan in an attempt to suppress growing popular resistance to foreign occupation.
Nov 07 2009
Cross-posted at Dkos and FDL
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Tonight on Bill Moyers Journal on PBS, Moyers will present excerpts for the documentary film, The Good Soldier.
As America prepares to observe Veterans Day and President Obama weighs sending more troops to fight in Afghanistan, BILL MOYERS JOURNAL broadcasts a powerful documentary about the impact on soldiers of learning to kill – or be killed. THE GOOD SOLDIER follows four veterans – one from World War II, two from Vietnam, and the fourth from Iraq – as they reveal how the experiences of battle changed their lives.
Watch a preview here.
